The best and worst changes 'Bridgerton' season 3 made from the books

In "Romancing Mister Bridgerton," Cressida Cowper is a one-note bully of London's high society, and she never becomes friends with Eloise Bridgerton, Colin's younger sister.

However, in the series, the writers evolve Cressida (Jessica Madsen) as a character through her friendship with Eloise (Claudia Jessie). We learn that Cressida bullies others due to her insecurity of not having any friends or suitors.

We also learn that Cressida is in a tough position because her parents insist on her finding a suitor. She needs a husband to escape her family.

Cressida develops from the one-note bully to a fully realized woman trying to survive in the Ton.

The friendship also develops Eloise. Since season one, she has been a self-obsessed, slightly insensitive, reckless young lady. She doesn't listen to anyone's advice until her friendship with Cressida, and the audience can see her maturing this season.

In "Romancing Mister Bridgerton," most of the tension in Penelope and Colin's relationship comes from his realization that she's Lady Whistledown.

But the timelines are a bit different in season three of the show. To up the urgency, "Bridgerton" instead creates a romantic rival: Lord Debling. Like Penelope, Lord Debling is looking for a match — but he seeks a practical, rather than romantic, one given that he plans on traveling for years at a time. For Penelope — a.k.a. the Ton's most prolific gossip columnist — that's pretty ideal, even if she'd prefer love.

It's nice to see someone genuinely interested in Penelope (other than Colin, after he gets his act in gear), and Sam Phillips' Lord Debling is a great mix of polished, detached, and a little bit odd. Seeing Colin jealous is pretty delightful, too.

Francesca Bridgerton is the not-so-secret second lead of "Bridgerton" season three. Hannah Dodd takes over the role from Ruby Stokes, who departed after the show's second season, and handles Francesca's debut with aplomb.

Francesca's storyline this season is different from what we've seen from the other "Bridgerton" couples, due in part to the fact that her true love story in the books is still yet to come. Contrary to her mother's aspirations, Francesca isn't set on a love match — she mostly wants a kind husband and a good life. Still, she finds a kindred spirit in Lord Kilmartin, a man who prefers to bond in silence and rearranges music for her at the drop of a hat.

This part of Francesca's story takes place on a different timeline in the books vis-à-vis Penelope and Colin's. But it's great to see her develop a relationship and get more space as a character prior to her eventual time as a romantic lead.

In season three, part two, "Bridgerton" revealed that it had changed the gender of Francesca's eventual love interest: Michael was now Michaela, her husband John's cousin.

In "When He Was Wicked," Francesca's book in the series, she eventually falls in love with John's cousin Michael after John's death two years into their marriage. But in the season three finale, John introduced Francesca to Michaela — and Francesca was visibly smitten.

Changing Michael's gender, and therefore key elements of his and Francesca's story, has proven to be divisive for book fans, though Quinn publicly stands behind it. But Francesca's story does easily lend itself to a queer interpretation, and it's huge for "Bridgerton" to set up a queer relationship for one of the siblings.

Every "Bridgerton" man needs a good opportunity to showboat, and this is Colin's.

Before a hot-air balloon launch, an unmoored rope and an unusually windy day cause the balloon to drift off. Colin, his forearms exposed, grabs one of the ropes and rallies a group of men to heave the balloon and its basket back onto the platform.

This scene has everything: a brute display of strength, Penelope almost getting caught in the balloon's path because she was busy staring at Colin, and Lord Debling chivalrously protecting her from harm. Colin receives plenty of adoration from the audience, but he only has eyes for Penelope. If only he understood that he was in love with her!

This incident doesn't happen in "Romancing Mister Bridgerton," but it's the perfect dose of jealousy-tinged frivolity that we need in "Bridgerton."

The first two seasons and "Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Series" have been mainly focused on young people falling in love. The same situation occurs in the "Bridgerton" books.

But in season three, we finally get a hint at an older love story with the burgeoning flirtation between Violet Bridgerton (Ruth Gemmell) and Lord Marcus Anderson (Daniel Francis).

It is really great to see one of the show's best older characters get a romance. Violet and Lord Marcus have both been widowed, so it would be a great opportunity for the series to develop a "second love" relationship.

"Bridgerton" hasn't gone full out on this relationship just yet — but there's a lot of potential going forward.

This may not have been Benedict's season, but the writers' room didn't leave him hanging. The show has periodically teased that Benedict may not be straight, and this season, it finally pulled through by sending him tumbling into the sheets with Lady Tilley Arnold and her friend Paul. Benedict's queer! All rejoice!

Benedict is now firmly in his fling era, which is a bit at odds with the fact that it seems like his romance is due next season. But whatever — it's fun enough that "Bridgerton" finally opened up this side of his character.

The other side of the threesome coin: Benedict is still a bachelor.

By "Romancing Mister Bridgerton," Benedict had found his lover and was already married.

However, the "Bridgerton" TV series skipped his romance for now, so he is still single and lost. While Benedict's casual relationships were fun in the first season, it was a little disappointing to postpone Benedict's romance to give him another fling.

Benedict is one of the best Bridgertons. We want to see his love story!

One of the best past of "Romancing Mister Bridgerton" was Penelope's friendship with Lady Danbury (Adjoa Andoh), a wise, independent widow in the Ton.

She was part of Penelope's transition coming out of her shell, and their conversations always showed that Penelope was so much braver than she thought. Their interactions are among the few insights into Lady Danbury's personality in the book series since she is a more minor character there.

Though Lady Danbury has been more developed in the TV series, she doesn't interact with Penelope much. Pen is left to fend for herself without any friends this season other than Colin, though Lady Danbury supports her after she reveals her identity.

This allows Penelope to find the courage alone but doesn't help Lady Danbury's arc in season three. Lady Danbury randomly props up Francesca instead, but this pairing has no interesting interactions.

"Bridgerton" leaned pretty hard into the entire "these poor young women don't know how sex works" thing in season one. While potentially realistic, by season three it's become a bit tired.

Penelope's sisters, Prudence and Philippa, are both married, and their mother is putting pressure on both of them to produce a baby. If either of them had a son, that child would become the new Lord Featherington. That's particularly important, given that Lady Featherington herself is under threat from the Crown to have to transfer their estate to another family.

Unfortunately, Prudence and Philippa are shockingly clueless when it comes to procreation. But by this point in time, the bumbling sex schtick is a bit tiresome. In "Romancing Mister Bridgerton," the Featherington heir race isn't a part of the plot — and while it's an understandable concern, it could do with a bit of nuance this season.

Luckily, by the end, all three Featherington sisters have managed to conceive. In a twist, it's Penelope who has given birth to the new Lord Featherington.

In "Romancing Mister Bridgerton," Penelope isn't the youngest Featherington sister. In addition to Philippa and Prudence, she has a younger sister — Felicity.

Felicity is close friends with Hyacinth Bridgerton and serves as another conduit of information between the Bridgerton and Featherington families. In the book, Lady Featherington schemes to set Felicity up with Colin, a prospect that Penelope balks at. But Penelope and Felicity are close, and her friendship with Hyacinth is a regular sense of entertainment.

It's easy to see why Felicity isn't around in "Bridgerton" — frankly, there are plenty of characters to keep track of, and she doesn't play an irreplaceable role in Penelope's story. But Felicity's inclusion in the story adds a bit of levity through her friendship with Hyacinth. It also underscores the tensions within the Featherington family: Lady Featherington thinks much more highly of Felicity than she does Penelope.

The "Bridgerton" book series has bigger gaps of time between the events of each book. This means that by the time Penelope and Colin get to their love story in the fourth book, Penelope is 28, and Colin is 33.

Penelope's desperation to find a husband makes a lot more sense in the book: In that era, she would definitely be considered a spinster at 28.

Penelope is only in her third year in society in the TV series, so her desperation feels forced.

In addition, the timeline in the book version supports their rapid transition from friends to lovers. Colin would be mature enough to realize Penelope's beauty and have known her much longer. Therefore, he would have less hesitation in marrying her quickly.

This is a tricky one, because the Whistledown reveal in "Romancing Mister Bridgerton" is also a bit wonky. In the book, it's Colin who presents his wife as Lady Whistledown at his sister Daphne's ball — and he does so without Penelope knowing that he's going to do it.

In the show, Penelope decides to reveal herself by confessing to Queen Charlotte and asking to justify herself to the public. It means that Penelope gets to divulge the information more on her own terms. But the reveal ends up feeling rather anti-climactic on screen. Philippa Featherington ends the awkward moment with her now-iconic, "Now, Varley, the bugs," but the entire sequence comes off abrupt.

That's not to say the reveal in the book is perfect — but there's something to be said for the romance of Colin making sure the entire Ton knows that his wife doesn't stand alone.

In "Romancing Mister Bridgerton," Cressida figures out that Penelope is Lady Whistledown due to Penelope's own error. Penelope says that it would "break my heart" if Cressida turned out to be Whistledown after she publicly makes the claim. Later, Penelope repeats the same turn of phrase in a column.

"She is nothing more than a scheming imposter, and it would break my heart to see my years of hard work attributed to one such as her," Penelope writes.

Cressida catches the mistake and figures out Penelope's identity, highlighting both her own cleverness and Penelope's carelessness.

The show goes for a more direct approach. Cressida learns about Whistledown from a printer who tells Cressida that Whistledown is a redhead.

Sure, we end up in the same place — but it's a bit more fun when Penelope's hubris is almost the cause of her undoing.

"Bridgerton" season three is available to stream on Netflix.

This story was originally published on May 26, 2024.